The sun is shining and the flowers are all blooming, love and weddings are in the air. May is the most popular month to get married and I can understand why people plan to get married in the spring. Who doesn’t want to get married when the weather is beautiful and there are gorgeous flowers in bloom?!

I see alot of roses and white and pink flowers this time of year. Sometimes spring bouquets preserve beautifully but other times they don’t. The truth is that not all flowers preserve well. My last arrangement turned out beautiful but I wasn’t able to use all of the flowers from her bouquet. When you have a flower with very thin petals there is just no way it will make it through the preservation process. It sadly falls apart when it comes out. But don’t let that disocurage you for still having a beautiful arrangement! As you can see, this bride’s arrangement turned out breathtaking even though not all of the flowers were used. No matter what you bring me or what condition the flowers may be in, I will most likely still be able to create something wonderful and meaningful for you!

Sometimes when preserving wedding bouquets, I never actually get to meet the bride. More than often I deal with a family member who is having the bouquet preserved as a suprise gift. It’s really something to be able to create such a special sentimental gift for them to be able to give to the bride in their life that they care for so much. The only downside is that I don’t get to see the bride’s reaction for the first time she see’s it. I really enjoy that moment she see’s it and the smile on her face.

In my most recent piece I created an arrangment for the bride and her sister. She had a wedding bouquet arrangement made for her sister as a surprise and had her own arrangement made from her bridesmaid bouquet.These arrangements were both unique and special because not only were the flower arrangements gorgeous with peacock feathers added, but she also wanted a piece of their grandmother’s wedding dress put into the arrangement. Special sentiments like this that are added with the flowers make the piece even more meaningful. To top it off, she even sent me a picture of her sister holding her arrangement the day she gave it to her and let me see the smile on her face!

Why is that floral preservation of a wedding bouquet is always desired by the bride but very often overlooked?

Here’s what usually happens.. I get a phone call from the mother or family member of the bride days after the wedding who is scrambling trying to find someone who can preserve a wedding bouquet. Once I actually get the flowers they aren’t in the best shape anymore. I can usually save some of the flowers depending on their condition but they won’t look as beautiful as they could if I had gotten them the day after the wedding. Unfortunately, A bride doesn’t think about saving her bouquet until her actual wedding day when she sees it and falls in love with it and wants to be able to keep it forever and always have it to remind her of her special day. There are so many decisions to be made when planning a wedding that are necessary to decide before the wedding day and preserving the bouquet just isn’t one of them. Don’t let this happen to you. Make sure you consider every single detail of your wedding beforehand and save every keepsake that you can. Your wedding day will go by faster than you can imagine and then when it’s over the only thing you are left with to remember it by are the photographs and maybe a video if you had one done. I can’t tell you how many times I show someone what I do and they always say they wish they had preserved their bouquet and had a keepsake like this to remember their special day.

I met Crystal in college and we have stayed friends ever since. I am so happy for her that she married her high school sweetheart and had the beautiful wedding that she always wanted. The wedding was held at the Montpelier Center for the Arts in Montpelier, VA on a not so ideal weather day. Even though it was raining and she didn’t get to have the outdoor wedding that she really wanted, it ended up being perfect at a very unique and lovely indoor location. Her bouquet was arranged by Strange’s flowers in Richmond, VA and was gorgeous but also very challenging from a preservation standpoint. The tiger lilies still amaze me every time I look at them by how real they look after being preserved. Unfortunately, they are so thin and fragile that it made them very difficult to work with. I love this arrangement more every time I look at it and I hope Crystal loves it even more than I do and cherishes it forever.

These flowers came to me all the way from a destination wedding in the Dominican Republic. The bride’s sister in law carried the bouquet on the plane with her in hopes that she could do something with them for her once she got back home. They were in pretty bad shape when they came to me days after the wedding. Some were even unable to preserve because they were smashed and wilted so badly. In the end I was able to save some of her flowers from her actual bouquet all the way from the Dominican Republic and create a beautiful arrangement as a surprise gift for the bride. Don’t ever think that you can’t save your flowers. Even if they are a little wilted and not as perfect as they once were, they can still end up looking beautiful and be put in a one of a kind keepsake.

Allison and my husband have known each other since high school and when my husband and I first started dating I was eager to meet her because he had always talked about what a great person she was. When I first met her we immediately hit it off and became friends. She is just an uplifting and inspiring person to be around altogether. You know those people you have in your life who you just truly enjoy being around because you know it will always be a good time and end up in great conversation… Well, she is one of them. Needless to say, we were very excited and happy for her when we found out she was getting married. I was even more excited about the wedding because I knew I could preserve her bouquet and I knew it would be beautiful. The wedding was gorgeous and so were the flowers, a simple yet elegant arrangement in shades of yellow. Yellow flowers do great in preservation, they don’t really change much from their original color. I couldn’t be happier with her final arrangement. It is just like her simple, elegant and beautiful. Somehow the arrangements I make for clients just seem to fit their personality and style.

I hope she loves it just as much as I do and will look at it many years down the road and always be reminded of her special day. No girl wants to see her wedding day come to an end and preserving your wedding bouquet allows you to have a part of that day forever.